I didn’t know liberal democracies award doctorates to pompous wind-bags, but I guess we learn something new every day…..let’s examine your rants bit by bit…

“Karzai’s government lacks even the attempt to respect basic fundamental freedom of speech and the Afghan government’s clear fear to upset Talibanish Islamic judges shows the incredible masquerade that the US and Europe is ready to accept about Afghanistan.”

The only “masquerade” here is your pathetic attempt to hide away all the progress made in Afghanistan to date, beginning with the schooling of 5.8 million children, the 10% annual economic growth, the proliferation of nation-wide media, and the gradual buildup of state institutions. It is with this progress that Afghans themselves will gradually overcome the vices in their rich culture. The international community or single states therein can be faulted for a lack of sound organization or lackluster commitment, but certainly not for wanting to hide anything. That there is a huge gap between where Afghans are and where they need to go, is as obvious as daylight to most, unless of course your some pseudo intellectual, languishing in some third rate community college.

“Maybe we have just uplifted another masque, the one which covered the real interest behind the invasion of this tormented country.”

…ya think if I were hiding behind a mask (learn to spell idiot), I’d avoid some third-grade discussion forum? Ya think?

“It was a war of propaganda, a war which could have facilitated the acceptance of the real interest of Bush’s administration: Iraq and the redesigning of the Middle East. The hope of Afghan people and Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh’s rights (and possibly life) were never the real reason for the war.”

….stupid, Sept11 was no “propaganda”, hence the reason for the US led invasion of Afghanistan. God only knows how much Afghans tried getting the Americans to go after the Pakies and their Taliban proxies before that date, but the best that Clinton could do was to launch a few tomahawk missiles at the Taliban from miles back, while the people burned. As an Afghan, the “reshaping of the middle east” would be welcomed, though the advocates of such ambitions hardly warrant a done deal. Be sure to note however that no nation’s been hurt by the murderous and immoral politics of the region as Afghanistan has. Unbeknownst to you, the Americans are there to fend off a far greater war that’s been brewing for some time. So Bush the warmonger, will be recorded by history as Bush the peacemaker.

Peace,
Neon

You ranted, among other idiocies…

“…International politics is a lot more complex than screaming “stupid” and calling people “bozos”. It’s a game played about five layers deeper than what you read in newspaper headlines. But hey, keep screaming, it’s fun to laugh.”

….ahem….boy that’s deep…..and err…sorry for the pain I’ve caused your posterior. I’ll try and take it easy on you in future…

Are we to blame the Canadian government for every bit of idiocy you spew here?

Peace,

Neon

This wouldn’t be the first time a Pakie has left an argument, only to come back a fake Afghan. Your country will be scratched off the face of this earth for your collective cowardice and immoral shenanigans. It’s a pity that the good people here have no idea about the nature of evil languishing in your gutter.

Give war a chance,

Neon

You are a credit to the human race. Both my parents attended Malalai and Istiqlal half a century ago in Kabul. To this day, my father talks about his foreign teachers as though they were gods. My deepest respect go out to you, thank you.

Warmest Regards,

Neon

You’ve stated:
“But let’s face it, the US can never win in situations like this. If we use military might to enforce separation of church and state, we are being evil imperialists and “forcing our culture and values on other people”. If we look the other way and let them govern themselves according to Islamic laws, we have effectively “installed a government of intolerance”, etc…
….your point is well taken, thank you. You are wrong however, for there is a middle way to both your objections that only Americans have perfected in history and George Bush has actively pursued in Afghanistan.

The only thing Americans did in their effort to build a new Afghan state was to initially engage a group of Afghans with a sympathetic history of bias towards democratic institutions (like the late old king), and helped them form a basic democratic structure, blessed by a constitution secured through a consensus. This is all that the US has done, so it’s hardly “forcing a culture” on the people. The rest of the hard work in nation-building is left to the Afghans as it should be, albeit with a US led international presence to help Afghans build their institutions, while keeping to a minimum any future peaks of spontaneous violence. The government in Afghanistan does not consist of Yes-men, for anti-liberal groups compete freely with a minority of liberal reformers. The international presence merely evens the ground a little, favoring the reformers, albeit only marginally. NATO and allies in Afghanistan help the people “FACILITATE” a better future, rather than “DIRECTING” them in some utopian nanny state. I hope you can note the difference here.

Trust me friend, if all Afghans wanted the foreigners out, you’d be out. We’re no Arabs or Pakies to take dictation from others, as has been demonstrated by Karzai’s recent rejection of Lord Ashdown as a UN “Super envoy”. The only people remotely comparable to the Afghans are the historic Lothars, who gave rise to the Dutch and arguably stimulated the enlightenment and its crowning achievement – The United States of America. I don’t have to be American or a Christian to appreciate your glorious history.

Peace,

Neon

I don’t know you personally, so I can only judge you by what you’ve said…tell me what I’ve missed here:

“Even Duncan Riley is suggesting to the that the Taliban were possibly not any worse than the current government because of this one incident.”

…do you see how easily I can conclude you to be a Taliban apologist? This “one incident” does not in any way render the current government comparable to the Taliban. You have mistaken the tree for the forest. Just to make a small point, over 5.8million children attend school today with access to a reasonable curriculum. During the Taliban regime however, the handful of boys who received any education, did not have a hope in hell of enjoying anything beyond indoctrinated recitals of the Quran in Arabic – a language that’s foreign and unintelligible to Afghans. Much like the Buddhists in Thailand reciting their prayers in Sanskrit, or Catholic kids reciting in Latin, the children of Taliban infested Afghanistan were expected to progress through the magical powers of meaningless semantics.

There’s simply no comparison between the two regimes. Afghanistan is a very poor, highly illiterate society, exhibiting a backward culture protracted by warfare and a general lack of choice among her hapless population. Only the Al Qaeda and their allies in Pakistan would have benefited from this, hence their support of a Taliban regime that effectively patronized and institutionalized the worst in Afghan culture. The current government by comparison, seeks to help bring about an environment in which Afghans can gradually transform themselves into something better….. the incident with the journalist is merely one bump along the way….

Peace,

Neon

Matt. 24: 23 reads: “Then if anyone says to you, Look! Here is the Christ, or, There! do not believe it.”

Matt. 24: 22 is the follow up to verse 21 that describes an event that will take place shortly upon the earth that will bring about divine intervention.

It reads: “In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh will be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.

There is only one thing that could annilate all flesh on this planet and that is an all scale nuclear war. There has never been anytime during man’s history where this could ever be reality, until now.
As you could possibly understand the conditions that are prevalent upon the earth, things are very unstable in nations that possess nuclear weapons, including the USA.

The chosen ones in reference with this verse makes mention of “the chosen ones!” It must not be confused with the Nation of Israel that carried that recognition during the time of Moses until 70 AD or CE when the Jews broke the covenant arrangment with their God Yehwah (Jehovah) for the second and final time. The first time was in 607 BC or BCE when Jerusalem was destroyed at both times.

Karzai’s government lacks even the attempt to respect basic fundamental freedom of speech and the Afghan government’s clear fear to upset Talibanish Islamic judges shows the incredible masquerade that the US and Europe is ready to accept about Afghanistan.

Maybe we have just uplifted another masque, the one which covered the real interest behind the invasion of this tormented country.

It was a war of propaganda, a war which could have facilitated the acceptance of the real interest of Bush’s administration: Iraq and the redesigning of the Middle East. The hope of Afghan people and Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh’s rights (and possibly life) were never the real reason for the war.

Best wishes
Gabriele

For more you can read my blog at
http://marranci.wordpress.com

I’m not saying that you can’t have an opinion about something you don’t know much about – hell, I have opinions about everything, and know almost nothing. But I don’t think my opinions about international relations – while interesting – are worthy of being on the front of a technology blog. Nor are Duncan’s.

This post should have been reserved for a personal blog, or posted somewhere more relevant.

Duncan’s original question was why we [that is, the US and UK and Australia] are in Afghanistan. The answer is primarily oil. And the reason is to prevent it heading north or east.

I’ve never said that’s a bad thing. Hey, we have to burn something to maintain our status as Big Fat White Westerners while a billion people have never even made a phone call and 43% of the world lives without basic sanitation.

But that’s OK, let’s not talk about that stuff on TechCrunch. [Waves to the other commenters]. Let’s just whinge that the new iPhone doesn’t have enough memory, or Facebook has taken down Scrabulous. That’s what’s truly important, right?

There’s nothing in what I wrote that’s even remotely anti-American or anti-Bush. It was an accurate description of the strategic situation. Not once did I say that I wanted some other strategic situation. If you find anything anti-American in that, it’s your own paranoia showing.

The only criticism I’ve made about the situation is that the we’re told it’s all about “peace and democracy”. If we’re going to war, let’s at least have the guts to state openly what we’re going to war for.

I agree with the people saying that the Afghani people’s situation will improve if they can share, somehow, in oil revenue. No question. I daresay they’re doing better now that Western troops are helping.

International politics is a lot more complex than screaming “stupid” and calling people “bozos”. It’s a game played about five layers deeper than what you read in newspaper headlines. But hey, keep screaming, it’s fun to laugh.